Georgia Child Sexual Abuse, Exploitation and Trafficking Prevention Education Technical Assistance Resource Guide (TARG)
Georgia History of CSA and HT Prevention Education for Youth:
In 2017 Georgia’s Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force, led by the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, published a Technical Assistance Resource Guide (TARG) on Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention guiding schools and organizations on educating youth.
On May 8th, 2018 Senate Bill 401 commonly referred to as “Jenna’s Law” or “Erin’s Law” was signed into law. Georgia became the 35th state to require all public schools to implement age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education for students in grades K-9.
In 2021, Georgia also passed the Human Trafficking Awareness Law (HB 287) requiring prevention education on trafficking in grades 6-12.
In addition to these laws, new prevention programs emerging in the field, updated Georgia Health Education Standards of Excellence, and requests from educators/schools, prompted the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy to take a leadership role in the revision of the TARG. Additional partners in the process included: the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, The Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Education, Issues Consulting, and several individual volunteers with professional experience in the field of child abuse prevention.
The TARG provides background on best practice, principles of prevention, age-appropriate teaching suggestions, analysis of specific programs, and guidelines for implementation and evaluation.
The TARG does not endorse a particular program. It does provide a list of programs that best meet the criteria for the Nine Principles of Effective Prevention Programs. Each school or youth-serving organization is encouraged to use the TARG as a tool to assess their prevention and educational needs and then select a program and implementation plan that best meets their needs. For more information or if you are interested in having an information presentation and/or additional consultation provided to your school districts' committee on Health & Physical Education or another group, contact:
Georgia Center for Child Advocacy
prevention@gacfca.org
